AmmoLand Editor’s Comment: “R. Lee Ermey, was an outstanding personality within the firearms industry. At many trade-shows, R. Lee drew huge crowds to the Glock and other booths. To his credit he would stand for hours until he had shaken everyone’s hand that wanted to meet and greet him. You will be greatly missed, rest in peace fine sir.” ~ Fredy Riehl, Editor in Chief, AmmoLand News.

R. Lee “The Gunny” Ermey

Palmdale, Calif –-(Ammoland.com)- The NRA Board of Directors lost one of its beloved members on Sunday, April 15, 2018, when R. Lee Ermey of Palmdale, Calif., passed away from complications of pneumonia at the age of 74.

Known to millions of fans as “Gunny,” Ermey was a native of Emporia, Kansas. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at the age of 17 and served for 11 years, 14 months of which were spent in Vietnam.

He earned his first film role—the first of 70 films he would eventually star in—as Sergeant Loyce in 1978’s The Boys in Company C. This was quickly followed up in 1979 when he appeared in Apocalypse Now, co-written by fellow NRA Board Member John Milius.